Well respected conservative and businessman Bill Simon has quietly told his supporters that he has decided not to run for California State Treasurere in 2006 (props to Dan Weintraub, who broke this news).

An excerpt of the letter from Simon to his supporters said:

This special election is extremely important. The reforms being pushed by Governor Schwarzenegger are critical — whether reforming teacher tenure, restructuring our state finance and budget process, giving public employee union members say over how their dollars are spent, or ensuring that we have fair legislative districts in the state. The Schwarzenegger Team is to be commended for bringing this debate to the voters and running a strong closing effort as we approach election day.

That said, I am afraid to say that at this point, we are going to have to say that the special interests who have a grip on the heart of California, and are squeezing it dead, they have won at least one minor skermish – the cartoon battle.

A few weeks ago, the Join Arnold team put out a short animated movie – it is a spoof on the union bosses literally shaking down a teacher to line their political coffers. You can see the animination here.

Shortly after this,… Read More

News Roundup: FORUM IN THE EASTBAYThere is nothing that our friends in the media like more than a spectacle – and that is what they got yesterday at a townhall forum held at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, in the East Bay Area. While the format was a little goofy (it was a ‘debate’ but the proponent [Governator] and opponents [State Senate President Don Perata, and the Chief of the Nurses Union, Rose Ann DeMoro] never actually shared the stage at the same time.

The general concensus is that the Governor actually did quite well in this format, and that his opponents very much came across as trying to defend the status quo. FR friend and blogger extraordinaire Dan Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee actually reported on the event ‘live’ on his blog. While there are a dozen (or more) stories on the FlashReport website on this… Read More

Todd Harris, who is a campaign spokesman for the Schwarzenegger initiative committee, has spent most of the year playing the role originated by Kevin Bacon in the closing minutes of "Animal House". As John Belushi and his fellow Deltas wreaked havoc on their school’s homecoming parade and destroyed a small town, Bacon played a young pledge whose responsibility was traffic and crowd control for the parade. The lasting image of Bacon’s first film role is him jumping up and down , frantically repeating the phrase "Remain calm. All is well", even as chaos descended around him.

After the governor and his opponents completed their participation in last night’s campaign forum in Walnut Creek, media coverage shows that Harris was on message, proclaiming that the evening had been a great success for Schwarzenegger. After months of being forced to attempt to spin the unspinnable, Harris was right. His boss won hands down.

Before the event had even concluded, armchair analysts were complaining that… Read More

San Francisco city government never fails to amaze me.

This morning, the local news carried a story about how a "beloved" pumpkin patch–one of only two in the city–has been closed down because of a permitting dispute. Apparently, neighbors have complained about the size of a shed on the land that serves as the Great Pumpkin Patch’s haunted house. The business owner says that the size of the shed was reduced to comply with permitting rules, but an appeal was filed to revoke her permit.

Here’s the kicker: the appeal hearing is scheduled for December 7th–well after Halloween. Don’t you think that city management could find a way to expedite the hearing to allow a small business to remain operating and give city kids a place to get their pumpkins… Read More

Ever think of running for office? Do you think the worst that can happen is to lose and maybe spend some of your own money. The LA Weekly has a story that shows it can get worse. Peter Torres, a LAPD officer had the nerve to run against Jan Perry’s boss (LA City council member Rita Walters) and then ran against Jan Perry.

He of course lost, but the payback has been a .. well you know. Read it about the whole story by clicking here and here.

You will think twice before throwing your hat in the ring. Then again, that is the idea.… Read More

As we get close to the Special Election, California’s newspapers are going through their every-election ritual of taking official position on ballot measures that will appear before voters. For conservatives, this is an exercise in cynicism – as we have come to expect, with a few exceptions, it is always the liberal causes that receive the blessing of the editorial boards. Heck, in Orange County, where I am from, it is a running joke that the candidate backed by the LA Times in a GOP primary loses a lot of perspective Republican voters!

So, it was with a bit of disbelief that I read an email from Prop. 77 Chairman Steve Poizner:

Two candidates have emerged as a likely head-to-head match-up for the June ’06 Primary to replace Claude Parrish on the nation’s largest elected Tax Board. Parrish is termed out of his Third District Board of Equalizationseat. Michelle Steel is reportedly off to a good start with $450,000 cash on hand and Mike Richman of Johnson Clark Associates on board. But the big news is Steel’s recent appointment by Parrish as Deputy Board of Equalization Member. And yes, she’ll get to use that ballot title in the June ’06 Primary. So we’ll see what kind of incumbency mojo that gets her, if any.

The other major force in the race is Assemblyman Ray Haynes, who has good conservative legislative credentials, including his authorship of the California Border… Read More